Kieran

As I watched Jackson leave the coffee shop, I could tell something was wrong, even if he didn't want to talk about it. Cheryl seemed to sense something was off, too, because she kept constantly checking her phone after that, just to see if he would send her a message. But the only time he did was to wish her goodnight.

"I'm sure he's fine," Willow assured her.

"Yeah. Dude's probably just got a lot on his plate," Heath chimed in, "Hey, Abi, over here!" He called to his girlfriend, who made her way over to us upon hearing his voice. Abigail Frost was a pale girl with icy blue eyes and platinum blonde hair streaked with pink and blue. Like Cheryl's other friends, I didn't know her all that well but had heard of her in passing.

"Abi, this is Drystan," Heath introduced, "He's a friend of Willow's."

"Is nice to meet you," said Abigail, swiping a chair from a nearby table so she could join us at ours.

"Likewise," I smiled.

She seemed to study me for a second, then said, "I remember you from bookstore now that I think of it. But not from cash."

Heath grinned. "Yeah, we came in...yesterday, I think? Or maybe the day before, I can't remember. Anyway, I noticed you talking to Jackson and, like, it was the first time I'd been there since you started – wait, when did you start working there?"

"Just a few days ago."

"Hold on, that can't be right then...Nope, I'm wrong! It was more like three days ago; I've been in the store a bunch of times since then."

"Yeah, probably skipping out on work," joked Claud.

"Oh, come on, dude, I don't do that as often as I probably make it sound. Besides, I always go in there on my breaks. It's fun to bug Cecelia."

"Since he will not get to point," Abigail broke in, "He pointed you out because he did not see you there before."

"Yeah, I figured that's where he was going with his story," I chuckled, "So, do you guys visit the store a lot? I mean, I know Heath does, but he doesn't usually bother getting anything."

"Sometimes," said Abigail, "But unlike Heath, I do not come in just to annoy staff. And while we're on subject – Heath, I know I have said this in past, but please do not skip out on work."

"I know, I know. I'll try to work on it."

Around 11:30 PM, people were finally beginning to head home for the night, and I soon became one of them, hoping to head straight home and get some sleep as Jackson had done. I figured Willow would stay a little longer, so I bade her goodnight before making my way toward the door.

Nighttime somehow seemed far more appealing to me than the daylight hours, and because of that Willow sometimes liked to joke that I was a vampire or something. But for whatever reason, tonight I was feeling so drained.

Needless to say, I wound up falling asleep just as my head hit the pillows.

Despite that, I ended up sleeping in late the next morning. My sleep was dreamless – or at least, I couldn't remember any of my dreams, and with how uneventful the morning found itself becoming, it was no surprise that I eventually decided to return to the coffee shop to see if Bram and Tori happened to be working. Part of me hoped to run into Jackson there, too, but unlike me, he didn't have today off work, so I knew that wouldn't happen unless he came here on a break.

Since the shop was so close to where I lived, it did not take me long to get there at all, even with my decision to walk instead of drive. When I stepped through the door, I noticed it wasn't all that busy yet. Not that I was surprised, really. Most people were at work by now. As it was, there were only about three or four other people here besides me. Sara Bareilles' 'Love Song' played over the radio, to which one of the other patrons was quietly humming along.

"Hey, Drystan, how's it going?" I heard from behind the counter, and I turned to see Bram there. Tori, who heard him, headed over to where he was so she could greet me, too.

"Hey, Bram," I greeted him back, "I'm doing alright, thanks. What about you two?"

"Same. It's been a peaceful morning, as you can probably tell. Anything I can get for you?"

Despite being a frequent customer here, I wasn't really a coffee drinker, normally opting for tea instead. "Just my usual."

Bram nodded and walked away. That left Tori and me.

Tori seemed to be struggling to find a topic for conversation. "So," she began, "Have you finally gotten around to checking out Lord of the Rings yet?"

I couldn't help but laugh. She and Bram were huge fans of the series – as well as The Hobbit – and had been trying to get me to watch the movies for ages. "Not yet, but I plan to at some point. I want to finish the book I'm reading right now before starting another series."

"Well, you'd better get a move on; even with how busy she is, Celia's two movies ahead of you and she's already making plans to read the books when she can."

I smiled. "I will. How is Celia doing, by the way? I haven't talked to her much lately."

"Busy, as usual, but otherwise pretty well, I think. She finally got some time to herself today though, and she told me she'd be heading to the mall with Dean and Julia for a bit at some point. She might even be there already, for all I know."

I nodded just as Bram returned with my tea. "Thanks, Bram," I said, paying for the drink.

"No problem."

As he spoke, I heard someone else walk through the door, and we all turned to see that it was Willow and Gigi. Since they were engaged in a conversation as they walked in, Willow didn't see me at first. When she did, she smiled at me. "Hey, Drystan," she said, as the two of them made their way to the counter.

"Hi," I returned the greeting.

"What can I get for you ladies?" asked Bram.

"A medium double-double and an iced lemonade, please," responded Gigi. "Did you guys see the news this morning?"

"No," Tori, Willow and I all answered at once. "Why?" added Willow, "Did something happen?"

"Yeah, there was some kind of accident outside town. Here, I can pull up the news report on my phone if you guys want."

"Let's wait until Bram gets back, I'm sure he'll want to hear it, too," Tori suggested, "By the way, I read your most recent advice column, Gigi. It was brilliant."

"Thanks," smiled Gigi.

Bram returned once again and handed both women their drinks. After they paid for them, Gigi brought Bram up to speed on what we'd been talking about, and he agreed to watch the report with us.

The report revealed that a rather bad car accident had happened just outside town, though no other people or vehicles had collided with the one in question so whatever caused it was a bit of a mystery to those investigating. The victim they focused on the most was a man named Eric, a former sheriff of New Salem who had been arrested a few years back. They'd been trying to transfer him to another prison when the crash happened, killing Eric but miraculously leaving everyone else alive.

Once the report was over, Tori spoke up. "If past incidents are anything to go by, I'm willing to bet he saw something right before they crashed. There have been a bunch of other accidents in that area, too, in the last few weeks alone, and the people involved all reported seeing something right before. This is the first time anyone's actually died there, but..."

"Define 'seeing something," said Willow, "Are you talking, like, a hallucination?"

"I don't know. I've never tried to leave town. That's just what was reported."

"I can't be the only one who thinks this all sounds like something out of Supernatural," Willow went on, "I know that probably sounds kind of insensitive considering what we just heard, but the common thread of 'I saw something right before getting into an accident' just screams 'haunted area' to me."

"You're not the only one," I said, but what I didn't add was that this was someone else I got a sense of familiarity from upon hearing his description, like I'd met him before, only this time, the feeling was not a good one. It was as though he had done something to hurt me or someone I loved, even though I'd never met or even seen the man before.

"Let's just hope they check that area out. Obviously, it's not a haunting or anything like that, but there's clearly got to be something about the place that's causing this many problems. At this point it would be foolish to call it coincidental," Bram remarked.

"I think so, too," replied Gigi, "It's almost like someone's trying to prevent people from leaving town."

She'd taken the words right out of my mouth and for some reason, I felt compelled to look deeper into this. As Tori and Bram went back to work and Willow and Gigi stated their own conversation, I took out my phone and immediately began searching for any information I could about the accidents taking place.

As I read, my mind reeled with questions that, frustratingly, remained mostly unanswered. What exactly had the drivers seen? Were there any other clues to be found, or that had already been discovered? Was there someone behind this whole thing to begin with, or was it just a series of unlikely coincidences after all?

The only one of those questions to be answered was the very first. Upon reaching the edge of town, each of the drivers had apparently seen what looked like a shimmering, transparent veil blocking the road – then, right before crashing, a strange shadow seemed to reach forward, almost like it was trying to push the car back. But it was only seen for a split second before vanishing, so none of the drivers could be sure it had really been there or if they had just been hallucinating.

Either way, the fact that they had all seen the exact same thing ruled out any chance of this stuff being coincidental.

"Hey, you okay?" I heard a new voice beside me ask.

"Oh, hey, Sheldon. Yeah, I'm fine. I suppose you've seen the news?"

"Yep. I take it you're digging deeper, too?"

"Yeah, or trying to, anyway. Why? What have you found out?" I asked.

"Enough to know that everyone's right to think this shit isn't normal," said Sheldon seriously, "And it's not just that the drivers are seeing things. You mind following me after you finish your tea? I have something to show you."

Well, colour me intrigued, I thought, then responded aloud, "I don't mind a bit."